Innovation: Leading the way or playing catch-up

When viewing the South African insurance landscape from a macro perspective, one cannot help but wonder if there is still room for additional product innovation. Looking at the different role players in the insurance industry and the various differentiators that they claim to have, it almost seems as if everyone has more or less the same products and service offerings.

Although innovation often serves as the catalyst that propels businesses forward, something cannot simply be labeled as innovative because someone decided on this. We must threat carefully not to fall in the trap of allowing product innovation to be motivated more by competitive pressure than by client demand.

With the recent FPI Convention that took place under the banner of “growth through innovation”, still fresh in our minds, Stephen van Niekerk, Head of Momentum Myriad states that “innovation will always have a place in the insurance industry because client needs are ever changing. As long as this continues, innovation will prevail but the element of ‘excellence’ in innovation will be the deciding factor at the end of the day. Also, innovation is occasionally associated with extravagant features that does not really address the clients’ requirements and as a result reinforces the myth that innovation demands significant funding. We however, make it our business to focus on innovation that has a real impact on our clients’ needs”.

Steve Jobs had a similar view regarding innovation and stated: “Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It’s not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you’re led, and how much you get it.”

We get it

Stephen responds by saying: “fortunately, we do “get it” because client-centricity now defines the existence of our organisation. This includes developing a unique client value proposition, underpinned by the concept of Financial Wellness. To approach innovation from a client-centric point of view increases the likelihood that existing products will not only address one or more client concerns but also ensures that clients will make use of these products and find the experience favourable.

Stephen further explains that “based on this principle, the Myriad product range has led the insurance industry in innovation and is responsible for the design of many of the products available today. However, we can’t take all the credit seeing that our most innovative ideas came from conversations with our intermediaries and clients.”

Experience our innovation in a practical way

He further adds that “due to innovative products constantly evolving as a result of changing client needs, we constantly find ways that will allow new and existing clients to benefit from future product enhancements, where possible. This is part of our ‘living product’ philosophy. This concept allows Momentum to embrace risk innovation while simultaneously ensuring that existing clients’ solutions stay contemporary and the financial advisers’ advice appropriate.

Part of the innovative nature of our product enhancements include making these product refinements available to our clients, either automatically and free or charge or through easy policy alterations. In fact, since the inception of Momentum Myriad in 2002, we have introduced close to twenty major enhancements to the product range that benefited our new and existing clients, each time, pushing the level of innovation even further”.

Keeping it real and tangible

Stephen also remarks that “if one calculates the mentioned innovations in monetary terms and consider the amount that we have spent on either saving our clients’ money or enhancing their benefits it adds up to a significant contribution. In terms of savings, we have in total awarded R950 million in Momentum Interactive discounts, while allocating R400 million in total towards the Retirement Booster benefit. The enhancements we have passed through to existing clients as a result of our ‘living product’ philosophy have, to date, cost Momentum more than R200 million”.

An investment in partnership

He concludes by saying “if one reviews the monetary investment that Momentum has made, I think it speaks to how serious we are about our commitment to our clients. Innovation in itself is very powerful but the decision, along with the determination to push the limits even further, in a responsible manner, speaks to our desire to be our clients’ trusted lifetime partner on their journey to financial wellness”.